


Reverberations

by demonbunnies



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Edmund-centric, Family, Gen, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, PTSD, Panic Attack, Post-The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 05:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15965876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonbunnies/pseuds/demonbunnies
Summary: Set after the events of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe."A shiver crawled down his spine, making him grasp pitifully at the furs enveloping him. He was vaguely aware of Susan’s mouth moving but he failed to hear the chatter that came out. The world was muted, the colour had drained away as the seasons changed over to bitter winter. Edmund felt the frost creep into his bones, reminding him of the ice-cold cowardice within him."





	Reverberations

A shiver crawled down his spine, making him grasp pitifully at the furs enveloping him. He was vaguely aware of Susan’s mouth moving but he failed to hear the chatter that came out. The world was muted, the colour had drained away as the seasons changed over to bitter winter. Edmund felt the frost creep into his bones, reminding him of the ice-cold cowardice within him.

Breathing in piercing air, he saw Her face and heard Her words when he should be hearing his sister’s grounding voice. He saw Her face set with that gentle, maternal, _calculated_ smile. The sweet – sickening – taste of Turkish delight formed in his mouth. A cough stumbled out his lips.

Stinging snow crashed into the back of his head, trickling down under the safety of his coat.

He could feel Her throw him into the frozen wall, snarling and screaming; icy hands ripping into his scalp, dragging him backwards.

“Edmund!”

He whirled round. In place of Lucy’s mischievous grin was a blurred image of the maniacal glee on Her face as Her heeled shoe slammed into his side. Edmund doubled over, vomit sliding up his throat, tumbling onto the white ground. A hand clasped his shoulder – he felt Her nails burrow into his skin – another set of hands gently grasped his back; just like Her touch at the start before the callous, freezing pain.

His entire body was wrought with tremors, hot tears stumbling off his face, as he curled knees into his chest with a hiccupping cough.

“Ed! Ed, what’s wrong? What’s happening, Sue?”

“Go get Peter, Luce…”

He saw the Her face and all he could feel was pain.

“Breathe with me Ed. Come on, you can do it. In and out. Please…” Susan’s voice cut through the throbbing in his ears. As reality gradually became clear around him, realisation dawned on him: he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t move. He felt like he was going to die.

Susan’s arms wrapped around him as she whispered soothing words to him as Edmund tried desperately to get air into his strained lungs. The two sat there for some time, until Edmund had stopped shaking and could breathe almost normally.

Lucy soon came running towards them. Edmund glanced up, saw Peter in tow, and turned his head back into Susan’s neck and sobbed. Susan shushed him and continued running her hand through his hair.

“How is he?” Peter’s timbre voice rang out, causing Ed to attempt to hunch into himself further.

“He’s alright. Better than before.”

“Ed? Ed, look at me.” Edmund shook his head awkwardly in Susan’s neck. Peter had crouched down and he lifted his hands to Ed’s face, “It’s okay, Ed.”

As Peter turned Edmund’s head to face his, Peter saw the dejected, tear-soaked face of his little brother and struggled to keep his anger, at whatever had caused this severe a reaction, at bay.

“I’m sorry.” Edmund’s voice was hoarse and broken.

“It’s alright, Eddie, don’t apologise. It’s okay.” With Peter and Susan’s help, Edmund slowly got to his feet, looking away in disgust as he saw the puddle of sick buried under a thin layer of snow, “Let’s get you home and warmed up.”

 

Inside the castle kitchen, the four siblings huddled round mugs of hot chocolate, warming their snow bitten hands. Edmund looked exclusively at the swirling milk in his mug, avoiding the others, wishing they would forget everything that had occurred that day. He fiddled with the fraying fabric of his sleeves as he felt their gaze pointed at him.

“Ed,” Edmund flinched in his seat, “What happened out there?”

Edmund bowed his head even further down, closing his eyes as if doing so would make Peter’s strangely gentle voice disappear.

“Are you ill?” Peter’s voice became more insistent, “I just want to understand. Ed, come on.”

Clearing his throat hesitantly, Edmund glanced up trying to look as composed as he could, “It was nothing. I must be coming down with something.”

“Bullshit.” Lucy stated ignoring Susan’s scandalised look, “Sorry for the language, but that’s exactly what this is, and he knows it.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Changing tactics, Susan tried reasoning, “Ed… We need to know, not just because we care about you, but so we can stop this from happening again.”

“It won’t happen again.” Edmund bit out through his anxiety.

“Somethings wrong, we know, you’ve not been yourself recently. For a while, really. Please, just tell us what is going on.”

“I can’t tell you! Because it’s stupid and all my fault and you all hate me anyways and there’s no point as it won’t change anything!” His shoulders were shaking, tears threatening to drop.

“You’re right,” Peter said in a shaky tone, “We might not be able to do anything, but we love you – don’t give me that look, you know we do – and we… _I’m_ worried. About you. Can’t you let us try to help you?”

“I don’t, I don’t know how… I can’t…” Edmund was frantically searching the room with his eyes as if looking for an escape. Susan placed her hand on his shoulder, “It’s only… it’s like she’s in my head, everywhere I go I see Her.”

Afraid she already knew the answer, Lucy braved the question, “Who’s in your head?”

In a whisper, as if he was scared of the words, Edmund murmured, “The White Witch.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's short, I'm just getting back into writing, so sorry for that.  
> I'm hoping to write more of this though!
> 
> I have always felt a connection with the character of Edmund, and can empathise completely with his decisions in the first book/film. I have always thought that he would have struggled in the aftermath of it all (specifically if Jadis is seen as doing more than what is shown to the audience). I am aware that all the characters have bad experiences throughout the novels, and like coming back from the war, they all just have to live with it. However, this is an Edmund character study and traumatic events always effect people differently - so this was my take on it all. 
> 
> Please tell me what you thought :) 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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